Rocky IV
|runtime = 90 min. |music = Vince DiCola Themes by Bill Conti |country = United States |language = English Russian budget = $28 million |gross = $300,473,716 }} Rocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise. Additionally, Stallone claimed that Lundgren nearly forced Carl Weathers to quit in the middle of filming the Apollo versus Drago exhibition fight. In one take for the Creed-Drago fight scene, Lundgren tossed Weathers into the corner of the boxing ring. Weathers shouted profanities at Lundgren while leaving the ring and announcing that he was quitting the movie and calling his agent. Only after Stallone forced the two actors to reconcile did the movie continue. This event caused a four day work stoppage while Weathers was talked back into the part and Lundgren had to be forced into toning down his aggressiveness. Casting Sportscaster Stu Nahan makes his fourth appearance in the series as commentator for the Apollo/Drago fight. Warner Wolf replaces Bill Baldwin, who died following filming for Rocky III, as co-commentator. For the fight between Rocky and Drago, commentators Barry Tompkins and Al Bandiero portray themselves as USA Network broadcasters. Apollo Creed's wife Mary Anne (Sylvia Meals) made her third and final appearance in the series, the first being Rocky II, although the character was mainly featured in "Rocky II". Stallone's then-wife, Brigitte Nielsen, appeared as Drago's wife, Ludmilla. The Soviet premier in the sky box during the Rocky-Drago match strongly resembles contemporary Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Actor David Lloyd Austin later played Gorbachev in The Naked Gun and played Russian characters in other films. Other media Novelisation A novelisation was published by Ballantine Books in 1985. Sylvester Stallone was credited as the authorhttp://www.worldcat.org/title/rocky-iv/oclc/12923839s Soundtrack The soundtrack for the movie included "Living in America" by James Brown; the film's music was composed by Vince DiCola (who also composed the soundtrack for The Transformers: The Movie that same year), and also included songs by John Cafferty ("Hearts on Fire", featuring Vince DiCola), Survivor, Kenny Loggins, and Robert Tepper. Go West wrote "One Way Street" for the movie by request of Sylvester Stallone. Europe's hit "The Final Countdown", written earlier in the decade by lead singer Joey Tempest, is often incorrectly stated as being featured in the film - no doubt due to its similarity to DiCola's "Training Montage." However, Europe's track was not released as a single until late 1986. DiCola replaced Bill Conti as the film's composer. Conti, who was too busy with the first two Karate Kid films at the time, would return for Rocky V and Rocky Balboa. Rocky IV is the only film in the series not to feature original music by Conti. However, it does features arrangements of themes composed by Conti from the previous film in the series such as "The Final Bell". Conti's famous piece of music from the Rocky series, "Gonna Fly Now", does not appear at all in Rocky IV (the first time in the series this happened), though a few bars of it are incorporated into DiCola's training montage instrumental. According to singer Peter Cetera, he originally wrote his best-selling solo single "Glory of Love" as the end title for this film, but was passed over by United Artists, and instead used as the theme for The Karate Kid Part II. Release Box office performance Rocky IV made $127.8 million in United States and Canada and $300 million worldwide, the most of any Rocky film. It was the highest-grossing sports film of all time until 2009's The Blind Side which grossed $309 million (albeit unadjusted for inflation). Critical reception The film received a "rotten" 44% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, indicating mixed reviews.http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocky_iv/ Dolph Lundgren received acclaim for his performance as Ivan Drago. He won the Marshall Trophy for Best Actor at the Napierville Cinema Festival. Rocky IV also won Germany's Golden Screen Award. Analysis The film has generated scholarly analysis and speculation. Paulie's Robot, an item that through the years has enjoyed a cult following of its own, was created by the International Robotics Inc. in New York City. The robot's voice was the company's CEO Robert Doornick. The robot is identified by robotic engineers as "SICO" and is/was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and toured with James Brown in the 1980s.http://www.longislandtechfest.com/robots-games-attractions.htm The robot was written into the film to help treat Stallone's son, Seargeoh, for autism . Rocky IV has been interpreted as a commentary on the power struggle between technology and humans, illustrated by both Paulie's Robot and the technology utilized by Drago.The Frankenstein myth in contemporary cinema. JH Rushing, TS Frentz -'' Critical Studies in Media'', 1989 The infamous robot has also been characterized as a "pleasure-bot" to service the needs of Paulie was also performing the duty of watching Balboa's son while he and Adrian are in Moscow.Can 'The Fighter' beat communism? PopWatch Rewind looks back at Rocky IV. Entertainment Weekly Darren Franich. Keith Staskiewicz.http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/12/10/the-fighter-rocky-iv-popwatch-rewind/ The film is recognized as being ahead of its time in its demonstration of groundbreaking high-tech sporting equipment, some of which was experimental and twenty years from public use.Von Hoff D: Rocky IV-Fight Medicine, Medical Grand Rounds presented at University of Texas Health Science Centre''Boxing and medicine'' R.C. Cantur - 1995 - Human Kinetics Publishers Rocky IV has been noted as a prime example of propaganda through film, with both the stark culture contrast of Apollo's patriotic showing in Las Vegas and Drago's cold, subdued performance in the USSR and the ubiquitous yet ineffective KGB officers stationed around Balboa's cabin outside Krasnoyarsk.Politics and Film: Propaganda and Its Influence During the Cold War. H Bullis - hti.math.uh.edu Rocky IV is one of the few sport movies that applies genuine sound effects from actual hits, bonafide training methods created by consultants and a bevy of special effects that in turn creates a film that has grown in popularity.'It's in the game': sport fans, film and digital gaming. G Crawford - Sport in Society, 2008 One prominent film critic has noted not only the increase in popularity of the film over the years, but that Stallone felt (much to his chagrin) his creative powers peaked at this chapter of the saga.“I could've been a contender”;: The boxing movie's generic instability. T Williams - Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 2001 Stallone has also been quoted as saying the enormous financial success and fan following of Rocky IV once had him envisioning another Rocky movie devoted to Drago and his post-boxing life (although Stallone acknowledged he was in better shape, he was excommunicated from his country), with Balboa's storyline parallel. However, he noted the damage both boxers sustained in the fight made them "incapable of reason" and thus planned Rocky V as a showcase of the results, though the film failed to resolve the saga.Acting His Age? The Resurrection of the 80s Action Heroes and their Aging Stars. P Gates. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 2010. Routledge. Scholars have examined Rocky IV and note the film's strong, yet formulaic structure that emphasises the power of the individual, particularly an idealistic American.Rocky IV, Rambo II, and the Place of the Individual in Modern American Society. SC LeSueur, D Rehberger.Journal of American Culture Volume 11, Issue 2, pages 25–33, Summer 1988. One author has noted the totalitarian regime Ivan Drago represents, his power demonstrated when he topples an arrogant opponent, and his subsequent defeat by the inventive, determined foe.Rocky IV Meets La Grande Illusion: Pedagogy and Theory in Popular Culture Study.The Americanization of the global village: essays in comparative popular culture. Roger B. Rollin.Popular Press, 1989. At Comic-Con 2010, Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren accepted the Guinness World Record for the ‘Most Successful Sports Movie Franchise’ for Rocky. References External links * Official Rocky Anthology Site * * * * * Dolph Lundgren Interview Category:Movies